Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

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Meatymc
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Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

Post by Meatymc » Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:39 pm

I'm still in the garage so use the above for heating having been given a 5KG bottle when I 1st moved to all-grain - 'upgrading' to the 10KG bottle when the other ran out last year.

To keep track of useage I started the weigh the bottle every now and then although didn't do so for the 1st few brews. I was suprised to see how much more I seemed to have used early on - leveling out to the point I could almost predict useage based on the brew length.

I replaced the bottle yesterday - now only available through Sainsbury's Homebase. On getting home I weighed it - it comes in at 15.2KG. That's interesting as all the blurb on the internet states - both historical (when you could get these at camping and caravaning places) and currently (on Homebase and Flo Gas) the gross weight should be 16.7KG. I know there will be minor differences what wth temperature etc but is 10% actually reasonable? I also know it doesn't sound a lot but it equates to 2 x 5 gallon brews to me plus I don't like being misled. It also might explain why I seemed to use more initially on the previous bottle - lower starting point than I thought?

I told Homebase about the issue last night just in case I end up taking it back but made it clear I appreciated it wasn't anything they could answer - all they do is sell the supplied bottles.

I then emailed Flo Gas in Northern Ireland last night - only NI as the other Flo Gas sites make no mention of Gaslight - theirs does. No answer thus far.

Rang Flo Gas in England this morning who initially said I'd have to refer back to Sainsburys as they are the sole stockists. Eventually the (helpful to be fair) guy unstood this was a technical manufacturers question which he promised to find out and ring me back - nothing as yet and surely not a difficult question to ask the relevant department.

So, as things stand, either every bit of material out there regarding the net bottle weight is incorrect at 6.7KG or the amount of gas you get is less than stated. I rang Sainsbury's again this afternoon and suggested they weigh a couple of others to see how they compare but I'd also be interested to hear any other experiences.

I'll let you know what, if any, response I get from Flo Gas.

Fil
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Re: Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

Post by Fil » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:26 am

sounds like lumping the bathroom scales along when buying gas is a prudent plan, i have to get 2x butane bottles sorted in the next week, i will be vigilant and may even take the scales myself too.
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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Wonkydonkey
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Re: Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

Post by Wonkydonkey » Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:29 am

2 things Come to mind while reading this

First how accurate are your scales, bathroom scales are not normally very accurate, have you tried calibrating them.?

Secondly weights and measures act, there is an allowable deviation, but what it is I don't know. The only thing I do know is they can give you less as a percentage but are not allowed to give more at the same percentage. IE 5% under weight but only 2% over.

Put these two together. And you may have your answer ?

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Meatymc
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Re: Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

Post by Meatymc » Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:06 pm

Fair points Wonky. Checked the scales with an unopened 25KG bag of cement - came in at 25.1. I can understand a 'margin of error' and there are 2 things at play here (bottle and gas) hence double the margin but I'd be surprised if the bottle alone can vary by c30% as in this case given the raft of legislation that must surround both manufacture and supply.

I was about to post that hadn't heard back from Flo Gas - in fact I haven't to my direct contacts last week but having spoken again to Homebase this morning, the local Flo Gas depot have just rung me within 10 minutes so can't complain about that (yet!!). Apparently each bottle should have it's net weight stamped on it somewhere which will obviously answer the question.

Will report back tomorrow

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Meatymc
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Re: Does anyone else out there use Flo Gas Gaslight bottles?

Post by Meatymc » Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:47 pm

Query resolved. The actual net weight of the bottle I have is marked as 5.3KG and not 6.7KG as stated everywhere on the net so the 15.2KG total is near enough.

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